Contact: Dan Dempsey at dempsey_dan@yahoo.com .......
The Math Underground is part of a national coalition, originated by NYC HOLD. .. a coalition of groups of citizens NOT vested in continually reinventing the wheel in order to justify our own existence, jobs or expertise. ........ Check the Blog list for Seattle Math Group.

Saturday, October 31, 2015

from Asia's Think Tank

The Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) has created a system
to produce and sell standards, curriculum materials, textbooks, and
assessments. Working with federal agencies and corporate sponsors, the
CCSSI has foisted itself upon half the states. The last piece of the
system is data collection. Bill Gates and government officials have long
sought to track students’ beliefs and performance. Now they would like
to micromanage educators, as well. This puts the CCSSI on a collision
course with parents, teachers, and civil libertarians who do not trust
the government to use such data wisely.

… All states and districts should collect common data on teachers and students.

One shudders to think where we are headed. Do children have any right to
privacy, or does “affective computing” preempt it? Will teachers remain
free to adjust lesson plans to better serve students, or will a new
Taylorism be the wave of the future? Will the new mind-reading
technologies obviate the need for the reflective practice of teaching?
Are there any limits on government or on how intrusive technocrats can
be?

Welcome to the Brave New World of Education brought to you by Mr. Gates and the Oligarchs using largely your tax dollars.

At Last .... a well written comprehensive article accurately outlining "Bill Gates and Friends" take over of public education. The actors: non-educators Bush/Obama/Duncan and our state legislators and educator Mr. Randy Dorn. This group supported Mr. Gates and poured the children's money into corporate pockets.

The debate over the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) is not politics as usual. .... It behooves anyone interested in liberal education to join in stopping the CCSSI.

Advocates claim the CCSSI is state-led, internationally benchmarked, and based on the latest research, yet it is none of those things. In addition to manifest pedagogical shortcomings, Common Core is dangerously close to an army of crony capitalists, anxious to cash in on the bonanza of federal, state, and local contracts. Critics charge the CCSSI with doing for education what the military-industrial complex has done for defense – spawning expensive and wasteful boondoggles overseen by burgeoning bureaucracies that harm the very people the system purports to help. ....

However, students, parents, and teachers are learning the hard way that
calling something magic does not make it so. There are better ways to
build a curriculum than corporate cronyism and secret standards. The
question remains: Is this the best we can do? Clearly it is not. The
CCSSI should be rejected on the merits because it fails to provide for a
high-quality liberal education for American children.
==============The Washington State local truth. In 2010 before the CCSS components were known, the legislature "adopted CCSS" with Bill 6696, which included a provision that State Superintendent Randy Dorn must provide a detailed report on CCSS impacts to the legislature on or before January 1, 2011. Mr. Dorn failed to do that. His report was 30 days late and appeared just before a crucial hearing of the House Education Committee (Rep. Sharon Tamiko Santos {chair}). This gave the Public no time to read it and respond.

I filed documents in Superior Court in Pierce County to begin a recall of Randy Dorn as he had violated a portion of state law 6696 written expressly for him. A WA recall requires proof of misfeasance or malfeasance to proceed.

Mr. Dorn is defended by the WA Office of Attorney General. The defense for Mr. Dorn stated that the report requirement was to produce a report for the legislature's education committees and no legislative committees complained so no harm no foul. Superior Court Judge Beverly Grant then ruled against my request for instituting a recall petition. ... So much for the Public right to know anything.

5 revise the state
essential academic learning requirements authorized6 under RCW
28A.655.070 for mathematics, reading, writing, and7 communication by
provisionally adopting a common set of standards for8 students in grades
kindergarten through twelve. The revised state9 essential academic
learning requirements may be substantially identical10 with the
standards developed by a multistate consortium in which11 Washington
participated, must be consistent with the requirements of12 RCW 28A.655.070,
and may include additional standards if the additional13 standards do not exceed
fifteen percent of the standards for each

14 content area.
However, the superintendent of public instruction shall 15 not take
steps to implement the provisionally adopted standards until 16 the
education committees of the house of representatives and the senate 17 have an
opportunity to review the standards.

18 (2) By
January 1, 2011, the superintendent of public instruction 19 shall
submit to the education committees of the house of 20 representatives
and the senate:

21 (a) A
detailed comparison of the provisionally adopted standards 22 and the
state essential academic learning requirements as of the 23 effective
date of this section, including the comparative level of 24 rigor
and specificity of the standards and the implications of any 25 identified
differences; and

26 (b) An
estimated timeline and costs to the state and to school 27 districts
to implement the provisionally adopted standards, including 28 providing
necessary training, realignment of curriculum, adjustment of 29 state
assessments, and other actions.

30 (3) The
superintendent may implement the revisions to the essential 31 academic
learning requirements under this section after the 2011 32 legislative
session unless otherwise directed by the legislature.

==============================

So there you have it: (in a nutshell) A,B,C,D,E

(A) The requirement... By
January 1, 2011, the superintendent of public instructionshall
submit to the education committees of the house ofrepresentatives
and the senate: a detailed report of CCSS impacts(B)... He did not do it(C)... The Superior Court and the Legislative education committees do not care(D)... Open Government is a fraudulent sham(E)... The Laws passed apply to some but not the favored.

There are better ways to
build a curriculum than corporate cronyism and secret standards. ... but do not count on the Washington State Legislature to allow such building of curriculum.

Friday, October 30, 2015

For sometime it has been evident to me that the big push for STEM education in schools has been a lot more about pushing vendor tech products in schools than about improving math skills. Care to compare the change in 8th grade NAEP math scores with change in tech purchases since the STEM push began?

There is a growing critique of the mathematics test score-economic growth link coming from a somewhat different direction, typified by Andrew Hacker’s recent article in the New York Review of Books, pieces by Ross Eisenbrey and Norman Matloff from the Economics Policy Institute, and research on skill gaps, shortages, and mismatches by Peter Cappelli. This critique centers on the alleged shortage of science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and other education-related skills in the U.S. labor market, certainly the underlying premise of the political hysteria surrounding U.S. students’ low mathematics scores. In his review of Michael Teitelbaum’s, Falling Behind?

(2014), Hacker writes:
…Falling Behind? makes a convincing case that even now the U.S. has all the high-tech brains and bodies it needs, or at least that the economy can absorb. Teitelbaum points out that “US higher education routinely awards more degrees in science and engineering than can be employed in science and engineering occupations.” Recent reports reinforce his claim. A 2014 study by the National Science Board found that of 19.5 million holders of degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, only 5.4 million were working in those fields, and a good question is what they do instead. The Center for Economic Policy and Research, tracing graduates from 2010 through 2014, discovered that 28% of engineers and 38% of computer scientists were either unemployed or holding jobs that did not need their training. (Hacker, 2015, p. 33).

The more likely reason for pushing the notion that the U.S. is short on STEM talent is that U.S. high tech companies want greater leeway in bringing in STEM workers from abroad (primarily India) or keeping foreign students with U.S. earned PhDs here on H-1 visas. Such H-1 visa workers tend to be locked into jobs at lower salaries. The notion that they are smarter than available U.S. workers or bring talents not available in the U.S. turns out to be a myth. They earn lower salaries, are less likely to work in R&D, and, when graduated from U.S. institutions, register fewer patents and generally have PhDs from less prestigious universities than their U.S.-born counterparts working in high-tech.

====
More nurses and doctors and math and science teachers are needed in rural areas but that has a lot to do with salaries and the cost of education and living in a rural area.

Certainly increased k-12 learning in math and science is needed but the STEM purchases are hardly improving much.

The way things stand today in education there are startling similarities to the H1B visa situation for tech workers and the push for Teach for America and Teacher Residency programs, which have more to do with lowering salaries long term than improving schools.

The sad part is in Tuba City schools on the Navajo Rez in AZ, test scores were raised by importing skilled teachers from the Philippines... When the Visas ran out the Gov. demanded they leave and there were few adequate replacements available. So much for US treaty obligations to provide education to American Indians. Vendors and Corporations were not improving the bottom line with the Tuba City deal. Is there a connection ?

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Looking at the first decline in the average scores on NAEP since 1990 and the claims made for Common Core, if your head is not spinning then it will be soon.

The next NAEP is 2017 and Gates/Obama/Duncan and the other CCSS supporters are spinning away. Unfortunately for them but good for the nation's students and future students the numbers are clear. Common Core is a disaster.

Ze'ev Wurman's analysis HERE is accurate. It is comprehensive and ends with this:

Wurman notes that Kentucky, the
first state to adopt the Common Core standards in 2010, now has five
years under its belt with the controversial standards.

“In fourth grade Kentucky’s achievement has generally held steady and
even slightly improved since 2011, yet in eighth grade the state saw
its achievement dropping by 2 points in reading and 4 points in math,”
he observes. “One could say it is not the greatest advertisement for
Common Core.” {{[ WA State 8th graders dropped 5 in reading and 3 in math ]}}

Meanwhile...

Senior fellow at American Principles Project Jane Robbins tells
Breitbart News, “I fully expect the NAEP to be ‘revised’ to align with
Common Core’s diminished expectations so that we don’t have any more
embarrassing results.”

====
This is serious business. The Common Core State Standards are not internationally competitive. The 2015 NAEP demonstrates in Math that the diminished pace and scope of the math standards is decreasing student performance. The control of schools has been gradually removed from parents and local authority. The current results are not good but the trend is worse. The term "college and career ready" is anything but ready for real college. It is a certification that students will not be taking remedial courses in college. So college will be dunb-down as well.

In Kentucky which Wurman noted above, Melinda Gates noted significant increases in high school graduation rates as a CCSS accomplishment. I think it is hard to find social promotion through graduation as an accomplishment. But if Gates can see it that way, it must be the wave of the future. Unless the public prefers to regain control of the schools they support with taxes, involvement, effort, and concern.

NAEP 2015 should be the defining moment in the revolt to dump CCSS and improve schools and students' lives. That is my spin on NAEP 2015.

=============================
Get ready to have your head spun , if you dare ... from Massachusetts via Radio Boston

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

If STEM is important the most important 2015 Math Stat would be percent of students scoring at the Advanced Level in grade 8.

As we are inundated with talk about the "Opportunity Gaps" take a look at 4th grade 2015 NAEP math data. In particular the percent of students scoring at the advanced level.

Looking a percent of students eligible for free or reduced meals we find the highest scoring state Minnesota has 5% of those students scoring at the advanced level with 21% of not eligible students scoring at the advanced level.

Here are some of the highest scoring states by percent of students scoring at the advanced level on 4th grade NAEP math and then some others.

2% - (7%) - South Dakota - 9%
2% - (6%) - Arkansas - 8%
the percent of poor at the advanced level is usually less than (1/4) of the percent of those at the advanced level who are not poor.

Is it genes or environment or both that impact the low income student?
Certainly better math programs would help. It hardly looks that Common Core will not be of much use as it is not an internationally competitive program. Those students with outside resources will continue to excel while nearly all of those without such resources will not.

8th Grade Math Advanced Proficiency level.
Massachusetts students from both poor and not poor backgrounds are scoring better than any other state. Why did not the Feds examine what makes Massachusetts performance superior rather than pushing CCSS-M and associated testing?

I believe the CCSS driver would be Edu-Biz profits.
STEM seems to be about selling stuff to schools.

See Arne trying to explain these results given ...Math test scores down for the first time in 25 years.

Since 1990, scores in both math and reading have moved steadily, if slowly, higher. Until this year, math scores had never dropped in either grade. NAEP scale scores range from 0 to 500.

Carr ruled out "test fatigue" on the part of students, saying researchers who looked into that found no evidence that students in 2015 were any less engaged in the test than in past years.

But even Carr, a developmental psychologist, said the drops surprised her.====

Hint for Arne: The students are less skilled because of Common Core implementation. I am not surprised.

No Vendor Left Behind is working great Edu-Biz profits are up, but students are left behind.

Remember that NAEP is given to a scientifically selected random sample of students in each state. Arne is going to have a really hard time trying to spin: Until this year, math scores had never dropped in either grade.. yet this year dropped in both 4th and 8th grades.Mike Petrelli's comment:
"It makes sense," he said. "When families are hurting financially, it's harder for students to focus on learning."

Nice try Mike you pusher of CCSS-M... Were families worse off in 2015 than in 2013? Of course not. ====
From Carol BurrisToday’s National Assessment of Educational
Progress score flop should come as no surprise. You cannot implement
terrible education policies and expect that achievement will increase.====

Let the revolution against Common Core continue. When it comes to improving the education of students "The Ed Oligarchs" are clueless.

Remember
this is a comparative ranking and nearly every state did worse in 2015
than in 2013... Thus although NY appears to be the same ranked at 17th,
NY NAEP performance went down from 2013 to 2015.
==============

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Of all the controlled substances that the federal government
regulates, cannabis is treated in unique ways that impede research.
Specifically, the U.S. government has held back the medical community's
ability to conduct the type of research that the scientific community
considers the experimental gold standard in guiding medical practice.
Thus, the use of cannabis for medical treatment is happening in states
based largely on anecdotal or limited science. In many cases, patients
and doctors operate according to a learn-as-you-go approach—a situation
that is inexcusably the fault of federal policies failing to keep pace
with changing societal views and state-level legal landscapes.

second links =>

Clearly in the World of Education Reform there remains a thrust toward engagement and activity .... and away from precision, accuracy, and correct answers in k-12 math. This has resulted in a plan to not require much in the way of prerequisites to "succeed in College math".

The thought that all HS graduates are graduating "college and career ready" will necessitate that all HS graduates be placed into non-remedial college courses. This is the next step in the selling of the "Big Lie". ......... Carnegie Corp and other vendors will assist.

So is Carnegie Statway a solution or just the latest way to cover up a huge Reform Education problem?

HOWEVER selling the lie is becoming difficult in Kentucky.

King said his group was seriously considering radical revisions to
entering college courses to create a remediation-course-free system
where every student would start taking credit-bearing courses right
away. He was going to create this utopia with the use of “Co-Requisite
Courses,” a mixed model where students who were behind would get extra
help, or “acceleration” to somehow catch up to better prepared entering
students during the first college year.

It sounded like a whimsical dream to me, and it didn’t take long for
reality to set in. In fact, like a nervous speeder looking at the
fast-approaching cop in his rearview mirror, King even hinted at that
during his comments to the board. King said he was getting some pushback
from his college math professors.

Well, that comment about pushback might go down in Kentucky education history as one of the biggest understatements of all.

In fact, King has a revolt on his hands.

===
So where is the WA State revolt against the k-16 math nonsense plans currently being put in place?

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Like MTI’sLast week’s MTI Solidarity! contained an article about ateacher strike in Seattle. Among the issues were wages notkeeping up with inflation, “no state increase in funding for healthcare,” providing teachers with a greater voice regardingstandardized tests, management’s proposal for a longer workdaywithout additional compensation, and other quality of educationissues........

Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant criticizedthe legislature and its lack of support for education. She said,“The educators’ demands are completely reasonable....For toolong the legislature has ignored the needs of the children andbent over backwards to give corporations handout after handout.Boeing executives got a special session. Where is the specialsession for education? Teachers are faced with stagnatingsalaries, overcrowded classrooms, too many standardized tests,and inadequate resources. It’s high time the legislature did theirjob, stop ignoring the mandate by voters to lower class sizes andraise teachers’ pay. Fully fund education now!” We need morelegislators like Sawant in Wisconsin!

I believe the take away from the following story is every public school teacher needs to be a huge public supporter of Common Core State Standards or prepare to be driven out of teaching. Results are not important in the education system but absolute compliance is very necessary to stay employed at any level.

October 11th, 2015

In response to the many people who have asked me whether I am leaving
Berkeley, it is true that the UC Berkeley Mathematics Department has
fired me. More precisely, the then Chair of the Mathematics Department,
Arthur Ogus, emailed me on October 31st 2014 saying that my employment
would be terminated in June 2016. I have asked the campus authorities to
review the circumstances leading up to that decision and overrule it. I
have filed a formal grievance, ... viewable here,

There are good people in the UC Berkeley Mathematics Department, who
conduct themselves with kindness, honesty and dedication to both their
research and their students. However most are simply too scared to stand
up against the dominant group of men who lead by fear. Arthur Ogus in
some sense helped me by supplying me with a large body of documentary
evidence to substantiate what I am saying, but Craig Evans instead told
me that he learned in a previous harassment case that he should never
put anything in writing because "we might get subpoenaed."

===============

My reason for asking that the decision be overruled is that on 31st
October, 2014, when the Faculty Appointments Committee of the
Mathematics Department made its decision, my teaching record was as
follows:

My student evaluations for the two classes I had completed were the
highest on record in the Mathematics Department. For Math 1A in Fall
2013 I scored 6.4 and 6.5 out of 7, and for Math 16B in Spring 2014 I
scored 6.4 and 6.6 out of 7 for overall teaching effectiveness. The six
year average for Math 1A as taught by Senate Faculty was 4.7 with a
range of 3.2 to 6.0, and the six year average for Math 16B as taught by
Senate Faculty was 4.6 with a range of 3.6 to 6.1. Going back further,
no member of Senate Faculty has scored above 6.0 in Math 1A for at least
the last 18 years, as far back as records go.

It is noteworthy that the Mathematics Department failed to report
these student evaluation scores for Math 1A in my personnel file,
thereby keeping them secret from university authorities. It did this
despite the fact that student evaluation scores are part of the
Mathematics Department's own review criteria that it devised to evaluate
teaching, making it contractually obliged to report them. These
non-reported evaluations are viewable here.

My Fall 2013 Math 1A students were tracked into the next course in
the sequence, Math 1B, and it was found that their average grade in Math
1B was 0.17 grade points higher than that of those students who took
Math 1A with another instructor.

However the Mathematics Department leadership at first refused to
share this data with me, then it said that the positive difference was
not statistically significant with a contrived analysis that compared my
students to more of my own students, and finally, when this was
refuted, claimed to not be sufficiently proficient in statistics to
judge. It is noteworthy that Philip Stark, then Chair of the Statistics
Department, was instrumental in the statistical analysis that was
undertaken and he is someone who has gone on the record saying that student evaluations are not indicative of teaching effectiveness. The documentary evidence supporting these allegations, which I encourage everyone to review carefully, is viewable here.

In a memo to me of April 18th, 2014, the then Chair of the
Mathematics Department Arthur Ogus wrote: "As you know, there have been
three written evaluations of your teaching conducting [sic] so far, two
in Mathematics 1A and one in Mathematics 16B; you have been provided
copies of each. These evaluations discuss your extraordinary skills at
lecturing, presentation, and engaging students."

However in the same memo he went on to say: "They also reveal some
significant differences between your practices and what has been typical
in our department [...] I hope and expect that you will be able to
align more with our standards for the remainder of this semester and
during the next academic year."

Last school year the SPS used the Scope and Sequence from newly adopted "Math in Focus" and produced very good results. Posting the largest differential above State test scores in Math in Seattle history for grades 4 and 5. Instead of continuing with that "Scope and Sequence" it has been secretly trashed. I say secretly because the district has not posted the following links to the "New Elementary Math Scope and Sequence" which replaces the "Math in Focus" Scope and Sequence used in grades K - 5 last year. The District did not notify parents of this change.

Be sure and notice the chaotic jumping about the textbook as the Kindergarten teacher proceeds through the 13 units on the new "Scope and Sequence". The planned chaos for other grades is similar. {{ District admin clearly does not like the sequence of topics in Math in Focus }}

These
links which contribute to Open and Transparent communications are NOT
brought to you by the Superintendent, School Board or Central Office
Staff of the Seattle Public Schools.

It is now mid October and the SPS is still keeping parents in the dark about huge elementary school math changes.

==================
On the Seattle School Community Forum

North of 85th wrote:

Great teacher in tears last night on the issue. Told....not asked....to drop MIF and adopt downtown's new worksheet based class flow and materials. Teacher told specifically this is to achieve high SBAC scores.

Using
the "Grade Level Year at a Glance" information above, parents can
finally see what is going on with elementary school math.

This JSCEE staff math action seems similar to a "coup d'état" .
Are the Directors complicit in this?
Are the Directors unaware?
Do the Directors even care?

Contributors Williamson Evers, James Milgram, Sandra Stotsky, Ze’ev Wurman, and editor Peter Wood talked about their book, Drilling through the Core: Why Common Core Is Bad for American Education. This book launch news conference was held at the National Press Club.

For the first time in history Americans face the prospect of a unified
set of national standards for K-12 education. While this goal sounds
reasonable, and Common Core has been presented as a state-led effort, it
is anything but. This book analyzes Common Core from the standpoint of
its deleterious effects on curriculum-language arts, mathematics,
history, and more-as well as its questionable legality, its roots in the
aggressive spending of a few wealthy donors, its often-underestimated
costs, and the untold damage it will wreak on American higher education.
At a time when more and more people are questioning the wisdom of
federally-mandated one-size-fits-all solutions, Drilling through the
Core offers well-considered arguments for stopping Common Core in its
tracks.

Congratulations
to Heath and Box, they are doing exactly what is required of all really
good followers of Common Core. Administrators look above to bigger
administrators to get direction. Unfortunately this direction is support for doomed folly because it neglects the needs of students, parents, and teachers.

1.
The Common Core State Standards in math are not internationally
benchmarked. The Standards are so behind the standards of high
achieving countries that by 8th grade students are at least 2 years
behind. CCSS-M version of "College Ready" is not ready for a four-year
competitive college, but it is one-size fits-all.

2. CCSS as
written and implemented will require colleges to dumb-down levels of
many classes because the "college ready" students are not to be placed
in remedial classes.

3. This is a plan for H1B tech job visas forever. More Asian nurses and doctors as well.

4.
In the SPS this still under construction Central Staff jumbled mishmash
curricula will continue the production of students disabled by poor
math instruction. It will continue the SPS math achievement gap
tradition.

5. The math standards are so weak they do not
adequately prepare students for chemistry and physics. Now we will have
the rigorous "Next Generation Science Standards", where "Rigorous"
means simulating, engaging, and supportive but not careful, precise,
and correct. STEM has become more about vendors selling tech stuff to
schools than adequately preparing students to undertake careers in math,
science, engineering, and manufacturing.

I do not find that aircraft manufacturers design and assemble planes
as the planes are taxiing down the runway. ... yet that is the way the
elementary school math plan is designed and put together this year in
Seattle.

"n" is right on the mark with:

The reason I prefer to stay with the structure of MIF is that1)we primary teachers are generally not mathy and sticking with a structure keeps us on target

2)I don't trust district math people

3) I am hopeful that MIF has developed a curriculum they can defend in terms of scope and sequence

4)how
helpful is it to give teachers - with all they have on our plates -
constant changes at the last minute? That is really irritating.

================I
really question the current governance structure of the SPS, as
apparently directors have essentially no control of how adopted
materials are used or not used. So much for public input in textbook
adoptions.

Director McLaren is right about stability. This is
the same type of central staff math leadership as in the last decade.
This time with even more Top-Down PD and enforcement.

Look, I’m not surprised that a non-researcher misunderstands
research. And I’m not surprised that a foundation is pursuing a
strategy that is not well-supported by research. Frankly, he’s entitled
to pursue any strategy he wants for any reason he prefers. But Gates
gets up there, puts on his metaphorical lab coat, and declares that
Science says… It’s then the job of actual scientists, even social
scientists, to correct him. If we don’t, then we are letting Gates
corrupt science. The Gates foundation doesn’t, for the most part, buy
false research findings. But Gates is contributing to the corruption of
social science as researchers obviously feel the need to stay quiet
when he and other foundation leaders misread and distort findings.

================

I have way less confidence in the Gates Ed Organization than Jay Greene. So lets start debunking this nonsense. A thorough debunking of Common Core State Standards, which Gates still fervently pushes, needs to occur.

East Asian countries continue to lead the world in mathematics achievement.

Singapore, Korea, and Hong Kong SAR, followed by Chinese Taipei and Japan, were the top-performing countries in TIMSS 2011 at the fourth grade.
Similarly, at the eighth grade, Korea, Singapore, and Chinese Taipei outperformed all countries, followed by Hong Kong SAR and Japan.

This
would lead me to believe that departing from any math "Scope and Sequence" aligned to match CCSS-M is an excellent move.

If thinking about STEM for students consider this from 2011 TIMSS chapter 2:

The five East Asian countries had the largest percentages of fourth grade students (30–43%) reach the TIMSS 2011 Advanced International Benchmark. Building on this head start, these five countries pulled away from the rest of the world by a considerable margin at the eighth grade, with by far the largest percentages of students reaching this benchmark—nearly half (47–49%) in Chinese Taipei, Singapore, and Korea.

While at the Advanced Benchmark the USA 8th grade had 7%
At grade 4 USA had 13%.

======
It is really time to find better math leadership in the USA.
The pipeline that promotes Math Ed philosophers into leadership is not cutting it.

The good => Seattle's Strategic Plan states:
(page 2)Mission: Seattle Public Schools is committed to ensuring equitable access, closing the opportunity gaps and excellence in education for every student.

We believe effective leadership is vital at all levels of the organization and will create student success.

We believe it is our public duty to properly steward district resources through ethical behavior, compliance to the law, transparency of processes and sound fiscal controls.

We believe in a district, including the central office and support staff, which is dedicated to providing high-quality service in support of teaching and learning.

We believe community partnerships and family engagement are fundamental to achieving and sustaining student success.
-------
(page 3)
Our goals for the next five years are to:
 Ensure Educational Excellence and Equity for Every Student
 Improve Systems Districtwide to Support Academic Outcomes and Meet Students’ Needs
 Strengthen School, Family and Community Engagement
------
(page 7)
Implementation of evaluation systems for central office staff;

The budgeting process dedicated to the realignment and deployment of resources to the strategic plan will begin immediately after the Board adopts this refreshed and revised strategic plan.

{{ Budgeting???? Something has gone seriously wrong here, as central staff pay raises and a huge expansion of central staff occurred during the last three years }}

The REALLY REALLY bad =>
(page 8)
Goals & Strategies
•Challenge and support each student by providing equitable access to a rigorous and relevant curriculum aligned to Common Core State Standards and 21st Century skills

-----
The Common Core State Standards contain a very large number of outright lies.

The Math Staff in Seattle has compounded the curriculum aligned problem this year by formulating and enforcing compliance with a "Scope and Sequence" document which does not support the orderly use of the district adopted elementary text series Math in Focus.

For several years the children of parents with resources have been the beneficiaries of outside of school math instruction from educated family members, Sylvan, Mathnasium, Kumon, tutors. Most of the children of parents without such resources have had to make due without these services.

The result is Seattle Schools have extremely large Opportunity (or achievement) Gaps.

This formulation and enforcement of a "Scope and Sequence" document strictly aligned to the Common Core State Standards and not aligned with the "Scope and Sequence" of the Math in Focus materials is in direct contradiction of the Mission of the Seattle Schools : of ... ensuring equitable access, closing the opportunity gaps and excellence in education for every student.

This "strict alignment" scope and sequence will continue the tradition of math mishmash jumble ... which "ensures" maintenance of large math opportunity gaps.

------As long as school directors and the superintendent see strict adherence to each grade level's Common Core standards students will be under served.

It is long past time to dump nonsense and focus on providing each child with the opportunity to maximize their learning.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Melissa Westbrook on her blog reported that Seattle Schools Math Staff reported little data about the "Opportunity Gap.""But to the subgroups, there a slide...but no data."
Perhaps this data explains "the why" for the subgroup data omission:

SBAC 8th grade Math results for Black students show 41.4% of Black students at Well Below Standard.

The EoC Math 1 tests only about the content of a first semester of Algebra 1 class

Why would anyone believe that putting lots more students into 8th grade Algebra makes any sense?

Is putting unprepared students into Algebra a good idea?
Tacoma puts almost all 8th graders in Algebra and it is a disaster for unprepared or low achieving kids. Tacoma 8th grade SBAC math results show All students - Well below standard 35.8% and almost all of these 701 students were sitting in 8th grade Algebra class in Tacoma schools.